Sometimes it makes me wonder why many who subscribe to Sola Scriptura themselves make so much of man-made tradition and even defend it rather than trusting on the Word of God as the final authority. After all, that’s what Sola Scriptura means, doesn’t it?
Case in point: yesterday I heard a podcast of the Way of the Master Radio (July 29, Hour 1) where a listener called up to ask why we still celebrate Good Friday and Easter when it was apparent from Scripture that Jesus was to resurrect three days and three nights after His death on the tree.
Todd Friel defended the position and even tried saying that, well, the Jewish had different ways of telling time from us. I can’t really remember what else he said, because I was going “no, no, no!” by then!
Tradition says that Christ died on Friday, and the Gospel accounts told us it was the ninth hour. That’s 3 p.m. in the afternoon for us who follow the 24-hour clock which starts a day from 12 midnight. Yet, if we were to trust tradition that Christ arose on Sunday, then it doesn’t add up no matter how you twist time!
Let’s see now… 3 p.m. Friday to the same time on a Saturday would be 24 hours, and if Mary had met Jesus early Sunday morning, that would mean that Jesus did not resurrect three days and three nights later, but much, much earlier!
In fact, I’d go as far as to say that this traditional view denies that Jesus was the Messiah, because one sign of the Messiah was that He would be put to death and arise three days and three nights after, just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for the same period of time!
But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 12:39-40, emphasis added
Several other passages in the Gospels and the epistles of the Apostles confirm and affirm this fact.
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Mark 8:31, emphasis added
And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear
Acts 10:39-40, emphasis added
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
1 Corinthians 15:3-5, emphasis added
Wait a minute, you ask, does it matter? We are just celebrating the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, aren’t we?
It does, to me at least, because in my study on the Sabbath, I have discovered much of what we hold dear today is man-made tradition, and some of them even disagree with Scripture, such as this issue of Good Friday and Easter.
That study isn’t ready to be published yet, but in light of this, I might extract the part I did on this particular tradition as a post in a day or two. In the meantime, this episode just reminds me of this song from one of my all-time favorite movies…
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@Handle The Truth -
Interesting… it’ll take time to verify all that information though.
@Handle The Truth -
Next time cite your sources: here. I find it interesting that you quote from a cultic source; one of the splinter groups who split off from the Worldwide Church of God cult after the leaders repented of their heresy and returned to evangelical Christianity. The more I see it, the more I am not convinced if the best sources you have are all culled from heretical cults.
What is worse is that there are no sources to document the so-called “facts” stated so dogmatically in this piece, thus the so-called dates and days of Jesus’ death and resurrection are unfalsifiable, and thus very suspect. Unless you can substantiate the dogmatic claims of this article, I will deny the truth of these facts and call the article a lie.
Isaiah, it seems that this view of yours is attracting lots of agreement from cultists and heretics. Doesn’t that bother you somehow?
@Handle The Truth -
Wow, the “Restored Church of God” cult embraces polytheism, literal theosis, and reject Trinitarianism (Source). Yikes!
@Isaiah -
Oops, ok. They bought spices on Sat eve then, I guess.
But the spice shops would (should) have been closed…
Sabbath mah…
Eh, no. It was no longer Sabbath on Sat evenings. And I think the Jews traditionally work on Sundays.
Somewhat off topic, I thought I’d share some material from the Evangelical Bible College of Western Australia, an unaccredited evangelical school which my mum is studying with right now regarding this issue. I think all the folks will find this one interested (at this point, may I state that I do not hold to any type of Sabbath - Heb 4 makes it clear that Christ is our eternal Sabbath IMHO and reading of the text, but this was too interesting to pass up):
CRUCIFIXION: WHICH DAY?
1. Scripture:
(Matthew 12:40) “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth “.
(1 Corinthians 15:4) “And that be was buried and that be rose again the third day according to the Scriptures “.
2. Apparent Inconsistency: Three complete days and nights, or the “third day”?
3. Evaluation
a) Matthew is written to the Jews. The Jewish Day is from sundown to sundown, 6 p.m. to 6 pm (cf Genesis 1:5)
b) Corinthians is written to the Gentiles. The Gentile Day is from midnight to midnight.
c) Christ died on a Wednesday. He died before sundown and His body was placed in the grave that evening, however, His soul went to Paradise “this day” (Luke 23:43)
d) In Jewish time, Christ was in the grave all the Jewish Thursday, Friday and Saturday rising after 6 p.m. on the Saturday evening, thus on the Jewish Sunday - three days and nights.
e) In Gentile time, Jesus was in the grave Thursday, Friday and most of Saturday - rose on the 3rd day.
4. There is therefore no inconsistency if one examines both statements in the light of Gentile and Jewish days
[culled from Bible Topic Book, 2006 edition, http://www.ebcwa.org.au]
Douglas,
Haha … good succinct notes. I was taught the same thing for my O-levels Religious Studies in secondary school … as a catholic then.
@Vincent Chia -
Don’t thank me - thank their textbook from which I cut and pasted since their courses run via PC-based materials so I just borrowed Mum’s CD and copied the notes.
It woud be nice if they had expanded it out a bit, but each to his own…
@Bro Tyrone -
@ Daniel
As I promised. I see that you are trying to say that Jesus rose on the first day of the week, however the scriptures you cited, Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1, and John 20:1, all state that Mary came to the sepulchre while it was “yet darkâ€, and found the stone rolled away and the Angel telling her that He is not here He is risen. All this happened before the sun rose, remember, it was “yet darkâ€. (John 20:1)
Some say Jesus died on Friday and rose Sunday, however, Jesus gave us a sign that the Son of Man would be in the heart of the Earth, for three days and three nights, (Mat. 12:39-40).
According to your count, the “Jesus†that you believe in died on (Good) Friday and rose on (Easter) Sunday at dawn, correct?
Let’s count:
Jesus died Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday N???? He was gone Sunday night. Okay, He was in the grave Saturday in the day, Sunday He was gone while it was yet dark. So, if He died on Friday and rose early Sunday morning, He was not in the grave for three days and three nights.
I do not care what kind of math you use this is that other Jesus that you are talking about, the one in 2 Corinthians 11:4. Just look at scripture and you will see what day of the week was Jesus crucified on. Please turn to Daniel 9:25-27, we read that the Messiah shall come and be cut off, Daniel 9:26, (crucified) but not for Himself (He died for our sins). He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week and in the middle of the week He shall case the sacrifice and oblation to cease, Daniel 9:27.
Turn to Matthew 27:45-51, when Jesus died on the cross the veil in the Temple split in two signaling the end of the Animal Sacrifices for sins. Also in Daniel it was stated that he died in the middle of the week, which is Wednesday. He died on the Passover, which was on a Wednesday that year. He died just at sunset, thereby He was in the grave Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, three nights. He was also in the grave Thursday day, Friday day, and Saturday (Seventh/Sabbath) day, He rose just as the Sun had set, at the end of the Sabbath. Thereby, He was in the grave three days and three nights.
I have tried to keep it simple and truthful, according to scriptures. However, being the great reader that you are, If you look in some of the Bibles, in the back the have Jesus’ timeline for His final week of work. They list Sunday through Saturday, with Jesus dying on Friday. Yet, they do not list and activities on Wednesday, why? Because they try to hide the truth: Jesus died on Wednesday and rose Saturday evening.
Tyrone
@Brother Tyrone -
Regardless, the Sabbath was already over (after Saturday 6pm) since it was dark. So in Jewish timing, Sat eve (after 6pm) would be counted as a separate “day”.
Reference the article by Mike Ratliff which I have hyperlinked in my reply to Isaiah, which have dealt with your objection already
The passage in Dan. 9:25-27 is apocalytic genre. How do you know that the middle of the week refers to Christ’s death on the Cross, since there are many other seemingly valid intepretations, like the weeks actually figuratively referring to a period of 7 years ala Dispensationalism? Your case is pretty weak if you have to depend upon a particular reading of a disputed text in order to prop it up.
And where is the proof? Reliable sources?
If Jesus died on Wed and rose on Saturday night, he was in the tomb for Wed aft, Wed eve, Thurs day, Thurs eve, Fri day, Fri eve, Sat day, Sat eve (after 6pm = next day). Which means that there would be 4 Jewish days (Wed aft, Thurs day, Fri day, Sat day) and 4 Jewish nights (Wed eve, Thurs eve, Fri eve, Sat eve). Regardless of how you manipulate the numbers, the numbers still wouldn’t add up. Remember, Jesus was placed into the tomb before the Sabbath begins, so assuming your point of contention that there was a Sabbath on Thurs, then Jesus must spend some time in the tomb before 6pm Wed.
So you are suggesting that the guards ran away before Saturday 6pm ends, and yet the Pharisees who were awake did not go to investigate after that, since it was after the Sabbath then?
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